Year 2 by the numbers

Dean hours

hours of partner meetings

*these hours do not include the hours dedicated to the Office by our Co-Deans and Graduate Assistant that are above and beyond the amount of hours allotted by their official positions in this Office

From year 1, we continued to grow exponentially!

Navigate this report

Terrapin Think Tank

About the Office

Community Engagement

Vision and Mission

Partnerships

Our Year 1 Team

Dissemination

Get in Touch

Click on each section to navigate to that page or just keep scrolling!

Student Support

sph.umd.edu/phpce

About the Office

In Summer 2022, the Office of Public Health Practice and Community Engagement (O-PHPCE) was established with a ​commitment to create and grow sustainable partnerships that engage communities as outlined in our SPH 2018-2023 ​Strategic Plan. Moving forward, the Office is committed to aligning its goals and missions with those outlined in the SPH ​Strategic Plan for 2024-2030. A dedicated steering committee of UMD faculty, staff and students gathered valuable input ​from school and community members and proposed what Public Health Practice and Community Engagement could look ​like at the UMD School of Public Health. The creation of the office was a critical centerpiece recommendation. The ​formation of the Office was made possible by a $1.5 million gift from the Robert Wood Johnson Foundation.

The O-PHPCE is headquartered in the Office of the Dean at the University of Maryland School of Public Health. The Office is designed to support bilateral pathways between and among students, staff, faculty, and the community to enable public health practice opportunities that enhance academics, research, practice, and community well-being; promote public health practice transformations; and serve as a resource and innovation hub for the school and community partners domestically and globally.

What we do

Vision and Mission

Our vision is a school where faculty, staff, and students routinely and intentionally collaborate with a wide range of community partners to integrate public health practice in education, research, and service and promote evidence-based, equitable solutions toward the improvement of health and well-being -- locally, nationally, and globally.

Our mission is to create sustainable and synergistic pathways to practice, model, and evaluate community-engaged research, service, and education.

We carry out this mission while maintaining our commitment to true participatory practices and power sharing, a dedication to integration with existing efforts for public health practice and community engagement, and a yearning to be a source for convening and shared learning.

Organization

Participation

Humility

Passion

Connection

Equity

Our Year 2 Team

**Meghna interned with the office both Fall and Spring Semesters

Student Support

In the 2023-2024 fiscal year, the Office awarded 9 outstanding undergraduate students and 6 outstanding graduate students with the Robin Mockenhaupt Endowed Student Awards. Additionally, through this fund, the Office was able to support 4 full-time undergraduate interns with stipends to work with our Office. The Office also was able to provide 12 interns with stipends to work with the Prince George’s County Health Department through the Kleinman Endowed Internships.

The Office began an initiative to spotlight student interns and the opportunities they’ve found in SPH. First steps included an advertisement flyer on the SPH Instagram. Efforts to feature student practice experiences will continue into future semesters.

In the Summer of 2023, the Office launched the Public Health Practice Opportunities Board which features jobs, internships, fellowships, and many other public health practice opportunities for students in SPH. Opportunities are featured on the SPH website and submissions can be made by anyone looking for public health student help! To date, we have shared over 225 practice opportunities on this board.

Check out the job board here!

Terrapin Think Tank

The Office partnered with the Terrapin Think Tank, UMD's first student-led policy incubator in 2022. TTT is our Office's first affiliated student group and is an important policy in practice arm of our work. The TTT aims to improve the health of our local community through policy advocacy and research, and provides a platform for students to meaningfully engage with the needs of their local community.

In addition to two co-directors and three associate directors, the TTT onboarded eight student fellows from different majors across campus. The Fellows assist with writing, research, and meeting with community members for TTT’s policy projects. Additionally, the Fellows took a 1-credit Student Initiated Course (STIC) in Spring 2024 to learn the basics of local policy advocacy and community-centered policy design taught by the TTT's co-directors.

Addressing period poverty through the provision of menstrual products at a Prince George’s County Library

Developing affordable transportation infrastructure for FQHC patients in Prince George’s County.

Developing a curriculum for Prince George's County residents to learn about the principles of health equity.

Establishing a framework to integrate teen mental health support groups in Prince George's County.

Learn more at: sph.umd.edu/terrapin-think-tank

In the Spring Semester, our team had the opportunity to host the College Park Academy for a 3-day visit to the School of Public Health where 6th, 7th, and 8th graders learned all about what it is like to be a Public Health Terp!

Our Office also hosted the community at a virtual panel about public health involvement in the Crownsville Hospital transformation during National Public Health Week.

Check out some key resources shared during the panel here!

Budding Partnerships

Town of Berwyn Heights

The Office has facilitated monthly meetings with a select group of community members on our Community Advisory Team to develop all survey and focus group questions and to design the full data collection process. The data from the survey and listening session are being used to address the Berwyn Heights-identified goals of promoting volunteerism and identifying a sense of community in the Town. Throughout the Spring semester, Office members and interns have attended numerous town meetings and community events in the Town of Berwyn Heights to promote the survey and listening session. This summer the Office will be preparing a final recommendations report with the CAT based on the data collected through the surveys and focus groups.

The Office has facilitated monthly meetings with a select group of community members on our Community Advisory Team to develop all survey and focus group questions and to design the full data collection process. The data from the survey and listening session are being used to address the Berwyn Heights-identified goals of promoting volunteerism and identifying a sense of community in the Town. Throughout the Spring semester, Office members and interns have attended numerous town meetings and community events in the Town of Berwyn Heights to promote the survey and listening session. This summer the Office will be preparing a final recommendations report with the CAT based on the data collected through the surveys and focus groups.

This community-driven project addresses following community-identified goals:

Health Department

The Office expanded our partnership with the Prince George's County Health Department through existing connections with the Step Forward Systems of Care centering around youth mental health in the county, the Prince George’s County Healthcare Action Coalition through the development of a Health Equity Champions curriculum, and continued support of workforce development for the county.

To facilitate student internships at the Health Department, the Office advertised and interviewed for 11 different intern positions throughout the Fall, Spring, and Summer semesters.

We've also continued our partnership with the enBloom Collective, that originally started based on their vision for ​transforming the Crownsville Hospital site in Anne Arundel County into a space of healing and community building. Our ​partnership with enBloom has evolved to include comprehensive organizational support via Office expertise and student ​interns. Together with enBloom, we’ve assisted in grant writing, strategic planning, social media planning, curriculum ​creation, and more!

Check out more about our partnership with EnBloom here.

This academic year, the Office built upon the existing partnership with the Calvert County Public Schools to develop a Parent Survey and Student Focus Group Guide to gather data on parent and student experiences and opinions on the CCPS Health Curriculum. After a pivot in community needs, the Office partnered with the Calvert County Health Department to develop informational social media posts and infographics about key health concerns and general healthy lifestyle information. These efforts will continue into the summer with the goal to launch the campaign materials in the early fall.

The Office is developing a partnership with the St. Mary’s County Health Department to explore the possibility of establishing an academic health department partnership with the county. In this partnership, we would be able to build bi-directional workforce development opportunities for UMD students, faculty, and staff as well as local students from St. Mary’s and the Health Department staff. The MOU is in development and we hope to begin the formal activities of the partnership in the near future.

Image from: St. Mary’s County Health Department Academic Health Department Model

The Office meets monthly with the Charles County Health Department to provide continuous support on strategic planning, internship needs, and other needs as identified, including connecting the Health Department with a 3-day Diversity, Equity, and Inclusion training from the UMD SPH.

Dissemination

Association of Schools and Programs of Public Health Annual Conference

In the Spring of 2024, Dr. Zeeger and Dr. La Touche-Howard gave two important presentations to colleagues across the country about the formation and practices of the Office of Public Health Practice & Community Engagement. These presentations led to additional collegial partnerships formed with more work to come in Year 3!

Check out their presentations by scanning these QR codes:

None of this is possible without the incredible work of our student ​interns, our mentors (Dr. Robin Mockenhaupt, Dr. Dushanka Kleinman, ​and Erin McClure), and our incredible community partners!

Get in Touch

Visit our website: sph.umd.edu/phpce

Email us: sph-phpce@umd.edu

Follow our Office on Instagram: @umd_phpce

Follow the School of Public Health on social media: